Darkest Night
by Elizabeth Marie Jones
Summary: Harry always knew about his heritage despite the manipulations of others, and on his sixteenth birthday he finally becomes free to act. Features Political!Grey!Harry. Evil! Dumbledore and possibly some Weasley and Granger Bashing.
1. Chapter 1

An owl hooted in the night. A window creaked open; a rustle of feathers was heard. Paper crinkled and was then set in flames. A cloak swished, followed by a near silent pop, and a sixteen year old boy disappeared.

Simultaneously, in a large, opulent castle on the plains of Scotland, a rather old man sat in the highest room in the highest tower with a red bird. An alarm sounded, the man shouted, and the bird burst into flames.

In a dark alleyway in London proper a young woman waited. She had clear blue eyes and deep black hair and she was wearing a black cloak. She looked up at the clock tower and when the clock struck midnight she melted into the shadows and vanished.

Deep in the dungeons of the opulent castle sat an ill tempered middle aged man. He had dark greasy hair and ice cold eyes. He also wore a black cloak. He was in the middle of cutting up what looked like a cross between a root and a baby when a sudden pain in his arm stopped him. He dropped his knife, grasped his arm, and disappeared with an extremely loud crack.

Elsewhere, there was a young man standing outside of a large manor house leaning against a tree. He was watching the sky. A rather odd thing to do since it was cloudy enough not to be able to see the stars but not enough to threaten rain. A light came on in the manor behind him. He looked back over his shoulder at the manor and then vanished silently almost as if the earth had swallowed him up.

In a dark, musty house in London the fireplace flared, and dozens of confused and irritated people came out. The old man from the castle tower was waiting for them and they quickly adjourned to a moderate sized room behind a filthy door.

Outside of a small village, a blond woman sat on a stone fence. She was singing silently to herself and had a bag by her feet. Suddenly she stuck out her hand and a large purple bus appeared. She boarded the bus handed the conductor a piece of paper with a few coins and sat on one of the rather beat up looking beds. The bus disappeared with a load crack.

All of these seemingly unrelated events are not unrelated, and they are the start of the biggest change England has ever seen. The Courts have awaken. Now it is time for their skills to be tested.

**AN: So this is just the prolouge and the start to a wonderful idea that hit me at 2:00 in the morning the day before my Finals. So naturally I decided to write it down. Please review. I'm not sure about any pairings yet, I'd rather let them develop on thier own and not force them because that never works. Oh...and first reviewer to accuratly guess all of the characters below gets a chapter dedicated to them...of course the majority of them are throw aways. Till Next Lime. ~Liz**


	2. Chapter 2

_Not much truth is told of the Founders these days. People go about believing Hufflepuff was just a dithering fool and Slytherin was a raciest bastard. No one bothers to look into the truth of the matter anymore. They are content with the shaming lies spread by an old man whose power has gone to his head. They don't remember Slytherin defending the people from the Christian Church, Ravenclaw's vast gardens, Gryffindor's cunning spies, or Hufflepuff's fierce politics. No the masses are content with the lies. The truth remains though, Hogwarts exists because of them; and they were the last Grey court on any soil._

Day One

It was a dark room. Not because there wasn't any light, but because it was so dirty. Filthy really. Cob webs hung in the corner of the room. The floor seemed to be a slate grey; though there were occasional hints of it having been white at one time. A cracked fireplace sat in the corner ash still sitting from where the remnants of a log must have been. The long wooden table covered in dust and pitted holes, the chairs all rickety and worn, dirty plates and cups still laid out with food gone moldy with age.

A hunchbacked wrinkly old creature stood in this room staring longingly at the fireplace, as if waiting for something or someone. A green fire flared to life in the grate, and the creature took a step forward hopefully until what its big, bulbous eyes were seeing made sense. It stepped back a look of absolute fury on its face. Its mouth opened. No doubt to deliver a scathing insult; when suddenly, the creature fell to the floor, its head rolling away from its body.

The cloaked figure who had stepped out of the grate sighed before wiping a blade off with a cloth and stepping fully into the room. The figure sighed again at the state of the place and pulled out a wand. He had a lot of work to do. After vanishing the body, the man snapped his fingers and two similar looking creatures appeared. They though, were much younger and nicely dressed in a uniform of black cloth with an embossed crest upon it.

The crest consisted of a circle with a silver crescent moon on the inside left of the circle, the remaining space inside the circle was taken up by an open red rose and black swirling shadows. The circle was pierced through with a silver blade. The man coughed and lowered his hood revealing brown hair and green eyes, before looking down at the creatures below him.

"Sally, Tally, I want you both to clean this place bottom to top. Leave all the furniture and artifacts where they are and make sure to open up the closed rooms" He commanded.

"Yes Master" They squeaked before disappearing to presumably clean.

The man nodded before pulling out a newly cleaned and repaired chair and sitting down upon it. He reached into his cloak and pulled out a black leather covered book embossed with the same crest on the creature's clothes and a silver feather quill. He glanced around the now sparkling kitchen before leaning over the book and writing. Outside the sun began to rise.

XXXXXXXXXX

A large purple double-decker bus slammed to a stop outside of a small wizarding village. Stan Shunpike stood up from where he had fallen over from the abrupt stop and made his way over to the young blond woman sitting upright on the bed at the back of the bus.

"Miss…this'd be your stop, Hogsmede Village, right?" He asked shaking her gently out of her trance. She turned to him and smiled before jumping off the bed, grabbing her bag, and skipping off the bus. Just before the doors closed behind her a faint "Thank you Stan" could be heard.

The blond girl looked around the village. It really was quite peaceful when it wasn't a Hogwart's visitation day. Of course it was also around 2 in the morning, but she had never let silly things like time dictate her life. Nodding to herself she looked around again to make sure no one was there and skipped out of town and through the gates of Hogwarts until she came upon the Forbidden Forest. Reaching into her bag she withdrew a long mottled green and brown cloak she quickly tied around her shoulders and a long bow that she held in her hand. Leaving her bag in a small crevice in a nearby tree she turned, flipped up her hood, strung her bow and ventured deeper into the forest.

The cloak she wore was specially woven to blend her into the forest, and any who looked to where she was would see only her bow and her deep blue eyes. She traveled deeper and deeper into the forest taking no notice of any noises or sounds. She traveled until she reached the center of the forest, marked by the large tree that grew there. She stopped and looked up into the branches. Behind her the sun was beginning to rise. She took a deep breath and apparated with a silent pop to the very top. The tree was so large that see could see the Black Lake in the distance even though she had hiked for hours.

She paused and pulled from her cloak three strips of black cloth all embossed with the same crest, the moon, the rose, the sword, and the shadows; before tying each strip to the end of an arrow. Then she took aim and fired thrice once to each large clearing within the forest. All the arrows hit the dead center of the correct clearings. She smiled to herself and disapperated back to the tree that she had hidden her bag.

Stripping herself of her cloak and bow she pulled another strip of cloth and arrow from the bag before donning it and skipping over to the Black Lake. Once again wrapping the cloth around the arrow she waded into the shallows of the lake where she was met by the giant squid. Giving him the arrow she turned and made her way back to Hogsmede. She had time for breakfast before her next task.

In the forest, in three separate clearings, three separate types of beings stood staring at an arrow shocked. While down in the lake, mermen battled fiercely against each other for the honor of retrieving the arrow from the squid.

XXXXXXXXXX

Miles away a young dark haired male appears suddenly. Cloaking himself, he quickly glances around the empty room before striding over to one of the tall desks lining the hall. The desks are lined with a large array and selection of bells. The figure quickly locates the smallest one, rusty silver with a cracked wooden handle, before ringing it.

The bell rings clearly across the hall, vibrating off the walls, and rising in volume until a door at the end of the hall slides open. The cloaked figure quickly strides through it pulling a thin strip of cloth out from under the cloak as he walks. The stone hallway is lit scarcely with only a few candles showing the way. At the end of the hall the figure approaches a large set of double doors guarded by two goblins.

The doors are intricate and obviously dwarven works of old, the kind with no handles, and only accessible with the completion of a riddle or the knowledge of the password. As the figure, steps into the light of the last torch, the goblins on guard shift pointing their weapons at his throat.

Smirking the man lifts the strip of cloth up, the sliver and red of the crest glinting in the fire light. Startled the guards withdraw, knocking twice on the doors causing them to swing inward. The room behind is opulent, riches staring up at the passerby from all angles. In the center of the room lies a desk staffed by another goblin; this one far older than the others. Glancing up, the goblin sees the cloth and its eyes widen.

"It is time then?" The goblin asks.

"Yes" the hooded figure replies before the doors swing shut behind him.

XXXXXXXXXX

During the night, when Diagon Alley's shops are closed, stall vendors appear. One can find anything from illegal slave trafficking to Weasley Wizarding Wheezes on the street. And it is here that a young lady appears. Dressed in fine clothes, with a light hood drawn over her face; she flints from stall to stall dropping small tokens with the crest upon it in each vendors hand while whispering, "Spread the word."

And each stall vendor nods, slipping the token into their pocket whispering back, "Of course, My Lady."

By the time the woman reaches the end of the Alley. All the stalls she's visited have packed up and left; the owner's intent on replicating the crest and spreading it as far and as secretly as they to herself she glanced down the empty street before disappearing suddenly to  
>another street where she repeats the process until dawn arrives.<p>

**AN: It's been awhile but life ya'll know how it goes. I am looking for a Beta, because I shudder at all the mistakes I likely left in. Sorry. Critisism is appreciated. Oh, and suprisingly not one of you guessed all the right people. Shame. Not that this chapter helps, but... Till next time. ~Liz**


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